[JURIST] Iraqi women face increased violence and more restrictions on freedom in the period after Saddam Hussein's regime was toppled, according to an Amnesty International [official website] report released Tuesday. Amnesty found that systematic repression of women common under Saddam's government has ended, but it has not yet yielded marked improvements in Iraqi women's lives. Amnesty's report showed that current laws in Iraq still treated crimes against women leniently and that increased killings and sex crimes threatened women and limited their ability to go about daily activities during the past two years. The report, called Iraq: Decades of Suffering [text], also said that several Iraqi women have reported maltreatment by US soldiers, including abuse, threats of rape and solitary confinement for extended periods. The report showed that some women's rights groups have been formed, including some dealing with violence against women. Read Amnesty's press release on the report. Reuters has more.